The Champion
by Bookaholism
Summary: Rose Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Potter are three students in their 7th years - going to Durmstrang Institute to participate in the Triwizard Tournament. But upheaval awaits the magical world, and it involves a disastrous incident of these teenagers' own first year...
1. Chapter 1

_**PROLOGUE  
**_

* * *

_**The Ministry of Magic, London.**_

* * *

The Head of the Department of Games and Sports gazed around at the humble meeting that had assembled - which included three Ministers of Magic (Norway, France and Britain), the Headmistress of Durmstrang Institute, himself, and all other Head of Departments of the British Ministry of Magic. The object of their meeting was an occurrence of every 6 six years - much to everyone's pain - to discuss the making and execution of the Triwizard Tournament between the 3 best magical schools of Europe, that is, Hogwarts, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons.

The reason it had always been such an agony, in the opinion of the Head of Department of Magical Games and Sports, was because everyone always ended up fighting like cats and dogs over the tasks. Everyone knew the tasks beforehand and that the host country would take all charges and responsibilities yet the other Ministers (and quite a lot of Heads) loved to interfere. But unlike all the previous meetings of his 20-year career, this time he was robbed of the bickering.

It was his own Minister - Kingsley Shackelbolt - who got right to the point.

"Last time's Triwizard Tournament had gone very well in Beauxbatons," he began in his gravelly voice, "but events had taken place at Hogwarts which had lead to dark consequences. "

Everyone nodded. There was something about this Minister that every time he spoke, people tended to agree.

"This year Durmstrang will play host and, notwithstanding all the measures I'm sure the Minister will take," here he gestured to the Minister of Norway, "the school is unfortunately notorious for its... let's say... increased tolerance for Dark Magic. I ask you to consider conducting the Tournament at all."

The Minister of Norway looked outraged. "Kingsley, how dare you even suggest this when all the arrangements have been made and all the announcements have commenced! It isn't easy trying to host this Tournament; do you even have the faintest _idea_ \- "

"I do, in fact, having played host to it after the war, dear Adrian." The Minister cut him off coolly. "I understand the implications. Yet, I must _insist_, the Dementors have been on a strike for nearly two years now and Britain has been searching for Kludd Zabini for six... and he has eluded us."

"That's your own bloody fault." Adrian muttered.

"If I may, Minister," drawled the exquisite voice of Lucia, Headmistress of Durmstrang. Her voice curled like a viper along the room. One of her eyes had a nasty scar through it, almost having gouged it out. "The Tournament is being conducted in Norway. And the last report of your very own notorious ex-Hogwarts student," she paused for obvious emphasis, "was less than a week ago, here in Britain. _If _you can manage to contain him here, the Tournament can be conducted without a problem."

The Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports sighed slightly. This had been exactly what his Minister had been fearing. Helplessly, he watched as Kingsley Shacklebolt gave in and they proceeded to discuss the safety measures for the three tasks.

* * *

**_The Burrow  
_**

* * *

"Is that a cat!?" Asked Albus Potter incredulously.

"No, genius, it's a hippogriff."

"Rosie, you know how much I love your sarcasm, but why in the WORLD did you get a cat?!"

"Because I love them," she said as she made a cute pouty face. She cuddled her cat and it purred with pleasure. "And I know you hate them, so I got two birds in one shot and all."

"Evil little witch." Al shook his head. "Look, just keep that thing away from me."

"The 'thing' has a name." Rose said huffily. "She's called Mai Tai."

"You named your cat after a _drink_?" Albus nearly fell over laughing. "An old, godforsaken _ELVIS PRESLEY _drink? You're in the 21st Century, Weasley!"

She was about to retort that Albus himself owned a puffskein, and on top of that, it was named after a _car maker_ (called Enzo Ferrari), so he had no grounds to tease her. Unfortunately, their repartee was rudely interrupted by a shout from their cousin, Dominique.

"ALBUS, ROSIE, COME HERE, SCORPY JUST HAD THE MOST _WONDERFUL _IDEA!"

Al and Rose glanced at each other for one second of shock, and then laughed so hysterically, tears started rolling from their eyes. They clutched their sides and between gasps of the mirth, they managed to exclaim, "_Scorpy?!"_

Dom yelled again, no doubt a scathing reply, but it went unheard. After their fit subsided, though, Rose made a scornful face and stalked off with her cat, nose in the air.

Albus noted, sort of grimly, that Rose had been extremely irritated with Dom of late. _Everyone_ got irritated with Dom at one point or the other, but this kind of felt different. But he had no time to think about it.

He walked over rather reluctantly. For the past six months his best mate Scorpius had been dating his (admittedly hot as hell) cousin and he'd begun to get extremely sick of it. Especially when he _knew _that Scorpius liked his other cousin and best mate, Rose Weasley. Okay, Scorpius wouldn't admit that to save his life (not even to himself, the thickheaded dumbshite), but Albus knew it anyway. He had been his best friend for _five bloody years_ and that was the end of it.

"Hey Dom," Al said easily as he sat down. Sitting with his arms around her waist was the aforementioned thickheaded dumbshite of a best friend, Scorpius Malfoy. "Hey, _Scorpy_," Al mocked.

"Cut it out," Scorpius smirked at him. He punched Scorpius' shoulder in a (kind of) friendly way.

"Ouch. I actually called you here to play Truth and Dare, if you're interested at all. Also, where's Weaslette?"

Scorpius called Rose 'Weaslette', on account of the fact that simply saying "Weasley' would include a horde of other people who might end up a touch offended. Calling her 'Rose' was, of course, out of the question. The day they behaved civilly with each other would be the day when dragons started eating grass.

"Her mum called her." Al lied. Merlin knew how many times he had lied for Rose. "And sure, bring it on. Call Lily too. I'll spin?"

_Two hours later..._

Rose was helping out her mother clean up the kitchen. They had been discussing the Triwizard Tournament and how it was going to affect her N.E.W.T. year. She was the Head Girl too (Scorpius was Head Boy, oh the pain!) and that was decidedly a lot to handle at the same time. At least Quidditch would be cancelled this year. Rose loved Quidditch (she was the seeker for Gryffindor) but she welcomed the absence of game pressure that it entailed. She'd also recently passed her Apparition test, and she was now seventeen, so she could use magic as and when she pleased.

(Except that some spells were illegal. Damn it!)

This particular train of thought was abruptly cut off as she heard an indignant squawk and furious hissing. She poked her head out of the window and saw - to her horror - that Scorpius bloody Malfoy was levitating Mai Tai.

Wand whipped out, she stepped past the broom that was sweeping the floor by itself and threw open the back door to the yard. It was blisteringly hot - it was the end of July - and her poor cat was squealing as she wriggled helplessly in the air.

"MALFOY! WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN'S PANTS ARE YOU DOING!?"

He deftly blocked her hex, without even looking at her. "WHAT DO I LOOK LIKE I'M DOING?" Rose Weasley hated that infernal smirk.

"PUT HER DOWN!" Rose threatened. In a split second she noticed that Al, James, Dom and Lily were highly enjoying this from where the dirty cowards were hiding behind the hedge.

"OR WHAT?" He taunted. Even now his eyes were on the cat rather than towards her.

Rose had a devilish smirk of her own. She wore it now. "Or this, Malfoy scum." The silent spell was a twisted healing one - not a jinx, not a hex. Probably why it passed through his shielding charm like it was custard. With a scream, Malfoy dropped his wand, and therefore Mai Tai, and cradled his fingers with his other hand.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU _DO?_" He was practically howling. The others were laughing as they rushed over. Rose picked up Mai Tai and sauntered over to where he had fallen to his knees.

"Next time, _look _at me when I'm talking to you."

She heard Al's laugh. "But seriously, what did you do?"

Rose smiled uncannily. "Remember that story Uncle Harry told us about a _Professor _not knowing a healing spell and removing his bones? That's what I did."

Except for Dominique, they all shrieked with laughter, mostly because the other three must have heard this story millions of times. James even clapped her on her back.

Scorpius whimpered slightly as he touched his limp fingers. "Oh, stop it. It's only the fingers." said James. "She could've taken out your whole arm. She would too, but I don't know what's gotten into her lately. Remember that time she pushed you off your broom mid-match?"

Scorpius remembered extremely well.

He promised himself that Rose bloody Weasley would regret this. Very badly.

* * *

**A/N: Well, hello. I don't think I've introduced myself. It's not really necessary. You'll know me as I write this fanfiction.  
Even though there's a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT about this fic on paper, none of it is on my computer and even though I finished it years ago, this is the first time I'm posting it, so I guess that calls for a party!  
I'll update every week, or I'll try to *sheepish smile*  
Reviews are playing a Quidditch match with Rose and Scorpius!  
And finally, a disclaimer - Yes, I own every bit of Harry Pot-  
"AVADA KEDAVRA"  
*Dies*  
****J.K. Rowling - "Not anymore."**

**~Love,  
dead Bookie.**


	2. The Beginning

_**Chapter One: The Beginning **_

* * *

It all began in my seventh year.

That summer I was at the Burrow, unlike the year before that, when Al had been at my place. Albus Severus Potter was my best friend, classmate, ultimate source of all my current knowledge of History of Magic and overall partner-in-crime. I'd forgotten the number of detentions I'd spent with him, or the drunken parties where we both got off with different girls, or the muggle movies he'd made me watch, or the feverish nights when we taught each other subjects before their exams in the morning, or the Quidditch matches (official and unofficial) when we'd played with and against each other. This had been the way of things since the events of our very first year at Hogwarts, back when I was all high and stuck-up, and he was the quiet kid who was awkward and funny. I'd saved his noble arse at the end of that year, but that story can wait for some other time. Where was I again? Yeah. Summer at the Burrow.

Al's family is great. Apart from being impossibly ginormous, frequently redheaded and inseparable, they're pretty friendly towards other families, and I like the fact that they like to blatantly ignore age-old social rivalries. That is, they don't mind me being (a) Slytherin and (b) A Malfoy. As far as I know, there's only been one Slytherin in their family for generations – Hugo Weasley, Al's cousin.  
Hugo's a couple of years younger than me, positively wild and badass in a cute way (or at least that's what I've overheard from the girls in my house). I don't know what it means in the slightest. He's also a damn good chess player. I suppose that could have come from his father, because that trait is in his sister too, Rose Weasley. That's her name, although I can't imagine calling her anything but Weaslette.

Now you see, my family is the Malfoys and my ancestors and the Weasleys have had a rivalry for a long, long time. We all were told there were no Death Eaters in our societies after the Battle of Hogwarts, but that isn't true – I know my family was a part of the Dark side. Anyway, I don't know whether it's because of this or something else, but my father hated Al's father, and my grandfather hated Weaslette's grandfather, and so on. The last thing you might expect was for me and Al to see eye to eye, but we do. We're best friends. I'm family in all but blood at the Burrow. The same goes for Al at Malfoy Manor.  
I'm pretty great friends with all of Al's siblings and cousins and aunts and uncles (believe me, plenty of those) etc. I think Mr. Weasley didn't like me at first, but then Al suggested I play chess with him, and afterward he'd given me a wry smile and said, "If you can't like a chess player, you can't like anyone."  
But unfortunately, his daughter didn't see quite the same way. She has this archaic dislike towards me, which may involve all or several of the following factors –

-It's possible that this has to do with those events of our first year, in which I may have insulted her pretty badly and broken her trust. But she ended up saving my life anyway, and that completely messed up the already messed up hierarchy of relationships. Complicated. I'll explain later.

-We're both seekers in opposing Quidditch teams at school. NOTHING twists your opinion of a person as pitch rivalry.

-We're both _extremely_ good and academics and no one can really decide which one of us does better. If a class has both of us, it mostly ends up being a heated competition between Weaslette and I. Entertainment for classmates, BLOODY WAR TO THE DEATH for us.

-I'm Head Boy and she's Head Girl and it sucks.

-This last one is recent... but I think she's extremely irritated by the fact that I'm dating her cousin Dominique, though I can't imagine why!

* * *

"The trolley is here," said Al. Buying our lunch from it, Al, Weaslette and I spread it over in the Prefects' compartment. Technically Al wasn't supposed to be here but he was Quidditch Captain and nobody ever really said anything to him.

"So," said Al between bites. "Tonight McGonagall will probably announce the Triwizard Tournament officially and all the 7th-years selected to go to Durmstrang. Who all do think will make it?"

"Well..." Weasley began. "The three of us for sure. Then some prefects, Roxanne maybe, Mark too."

"Who's Mark?" I asked, taking a bite out of a pastry. Weasley blushed just a little before muttering, "A Ravenclaw." Al winked at me.

I knew better than to wonder if Dominique would be selected. I doubted it myself. "What about Aldrich?" I asked warily. "He's brilliant at Transfiguration, if not anything else. McGonagall has a soft spot for him."

"Does not!" exclaimed Weasley. "He's a huge prat. He can't turn a needle into a matchstick. If anything, Amy Fuller might make it."

I blanched and so did Al. "Amy Fuller!?" He asked. "That Hufflepuff with acne and glasses? Rosie, you must be high." Weasley ignored the last part. "She's not good-looking," she admitted as I snorted. "But she can charm Goblins to look like Veela. She's at least a better choice than _Aldrich._"

"Yeah, right." I couldn't help the smirk. "She'll scare all the creatures in the tournament just by appearing, right Weaslette?" Al laughed. Said Weasley looked mildly annoyed. "Sharing your strategy, Malfoy? " she said coolly.

* * *

Some years ago, Al made us make a pact - for his sake - to behave like humans with each other. She's my batchmate; I'm her best friend's best friend; I come to the Burrow every other summer; We were going to have to get used to each other. We've stuck to it quite a lot, I must say. But on other times..

Don't even ask me about the time when Weaslette turned up at the Boathouse when I was making out with Dom, or how she put a Weasley's Wizard Wheezes firework in my trunk, or when she pushed me off my broom mid-match, or when she slipped me love potion and made me fall in love with my own bloody best friend... Al never forgave me for trying to kiss him.

It's also not that I haven't gotten back to her. She's been a victim of Doxy-poison (in exchange for the love potion in my coffee), she's been turned into Beetles, Canaries, Elephants (now THAT was something!), Eggplants, Jarveys and even a Lion. I've put paint on her notes, made her cauldron explode in class, put fires under her chair, slipped powdered puking pastilles in her water during exams... and you get the idea. I've been in too many detentions because of her and she could say the same for me. We can't stand each other. Once in a blue moon, when we've been forced to team up, I've noted that we can wreak havoc together, but mostly we wreak havoc on each other.

* * *

As usual, the Great Hall is lit up with floating candles and torches in brackets along the walls. I'll never forget the first time I saw it. Weasley and I are standing in a room behind the Great Hall, having dinner and waiting for the Feast to finish. Headmistress McGonagall asked us to, that is. The Sorting finished without incident - there are no first-years I know beforehand this year. Weasley and I can vaguely make out the Professor's announcement of the Tournament and the following it - the students' cheers.

Weasley was smiling. "Six years ago, Victoire was the Hogwarts Champion in Beauxbatons." She told me. I've met Victoire, of course. I remembered. We were told to stay here in the back room as the students selected to go to Durmstrang arrived one by one. We heard the names being announced by the Deputy Headmaster, and welcomed our friends as they came in through the door. There was Al, of course, and Roxanne (another Weasley cousin). Aldrich Finningan _did _make it, and so did Amy Fuller. Mark Fawley turned out to be a Ravenclaw with square glasses whose name I remember seeing in the Trophy Room. I counted them all; there were a total of 21 students.

"That's it?" I whispered to Weasley.

"Well, what do you expect?" She snapped. "We have a total of forty-three 7th years. And how many 6th years are going to turn 17 within four months anyway?"

"Stop already," muttered Albus. I resisted rolling my eyes at both of them.

Professor McGonagall walked in around then and held up her hands for silence. After she got it, she smiled a rare smile, and began, "Congratulations to all the students who are lucky enough to be chosen to participate in this prestigious Tournament." A few low cheers relished the compliment. Then the smile faded. "All of you have been chosen on the basis of your varied strengths... whether it be spell-casting, or resourcefulness, or strategy. I am, however, aware that most of you lack an essential aspect - discipline." She even managed a glance in my direction. "Be warned that Durmstrang Institute is a worshiper of just that... and a punisher of the most severe kind if its rules are cast aside. Do not let Hogwarts down."

The students nodded enthusiastically. Professor continued, "Consult the Head Boy and Girl for help where I am unavailable... and their orders will be undisputed apart from mine. _No exceptions._ Is that clear?" The students nodded again. "And as a final word... may I remind you that the Hogwarts was the last holder of the title of the Triwizard Tournament's winner. Don't give it back." Even I had to laugh. "Good luck." said our Headmistress, and dismissed us.

"Yeah," I said as I sidled up to Al. "We'll need it."

* * *

**A/N: I happen to realize that this chapter was very dissatisfactory. To be entirely honest with you, I suck at introductory chapters. The following ones will be better, I promise.  
Scorpius' POV, yay! (That's what it is going to be for the rest of the book. Except the Epilogue. When we get to it.)  
_Disclaimer: I own Harry Potter, and the moon is made of mayonnaise._  
Reviews are getting selected for going to Durmstrang! (Or being a student at Hogwarts. That's quite enough :') )  
~Love,  
Bookie. **


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